I’m 31M, and would say i am between Norwood 4 and 5. For the past 2 years, i’ve been stuck between the " i should go bald " and the " i’ll go for a HT " phases.
At first, i thought medication wasn’t needed, or atleast not needed to have a decent amount of hairs for the following 5 years, before accepting to go bald aha.
I took an appointment with a dermatologist, that just told me he doesn’t approve those medications.
Since i’m a bit scared of sides of fin / min, i’m going to see my usual doctor and ask about medication.
I’m not sure about what i should ask outside of what does she thinks about the risks / sides ?
Should i ask for hormone check / to see a hormone specialiste / cardiologist ?
For people scared about sides, how was your process before starting to take fin / min ?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Did you end up finding the same dermatologists that I had been to , just by chance my man? Look. Hair loss and balding are related but not same. If you have CTE/TE you won’t typically have a norwood or ludwig scale assigned to you. Norwood or ludwig scales refer typically to “balding”. Balding is a direct result of your androgen receptors being sensitive to the effects of androgens (overwhelmingly DHT) in your body. This is it. How are you going to tackle this problem without suppressing DHT, tell me how? A brave decision awaits you my man. Due to legal reasons I will NOT and canNOT recommend you to take anything but without cutting the downstream production of DHT, there is very little to no hope for your hair.
The problem is my man, most usual doctors eg. GP have no idea. I went to a GP but she told me “duh I have no idea” literally. You need to see a proper, real qualified dermatologist. Not all dermatologists are created equal. You must understand that you are already norwood 4-5, this is advanced for hair loss. It will very likely need a good hair transplant or pp405, pp405 is not yet available and HT is not something that you can grab off the shelves for a few bucks. It costs upwards of tens of grand in US and in places like Turkey, it is done for cheaper, roughly 5-10 grand but even then it is NOT cheap, it is relatively “cheaper” but NOT cheap. If 5-10 grand is nothing for you, then it is a different matter obviously. So answer to both of these questions is to find a proper doctor. Then you can proceed.
Yes, if possible. The genetic sensitivity to androgens (overwhelmingly DHT though, Testosterone is nowhere near involved as much.) is the #1 cause of AndroGeneticAlopecia (AGA) or classical balding. Focus on A) what can be deficient (AGA is not caused by deficiencies but so you can fix them in this process too) B) DHT, T, DHEA, Estrogen. Keep in mind, the list of what you can check is not complete as I had never handed any lab or doc this and told them to give me the numbers as that is rude and not all values for parameters can be obtained. But get as many parameters as possible tested for. Doctors can tell you, look DHT does not matter but the genetic sensitivity, yes but extra data never harmed anybody, you can also track whether fin/dut is working or not by comparing values before and after the tests.
My hair kept getting worse without dutasteride. But I am not on finasteride but on 0.5mg dutasteride at the moment. It WILL stay stagnant at the very fucking best, rest assured in that regard. It will never get better WITHOUT intervention. Also (the infamous) Norwood Reaper never stops, he might take a small nap or go dormant for some time but he typically collects his due, so what this means for you is that likely it will get worse. NW6-NW7 awaits you.
PS:This text is NOT a medical advice, using all medicines aforementioned here is 100% at your own risk.
You also give me the vibes of a Turk. Finasteride/Dutasteride is also not known here much but hair transplants are everywhere . So people get hair transplants, if their balding is aggressive then they will have to use finasteride/dutasteride but irrelevant of their balding most don’t want to use it and those who have it aggressive see their hair falling off. By aggressive I mean those whose A)DHT production is high B) Follicles are genetically sensitive. If you are a Turk, ignore all natural herbs “natural treatments”, they don’t work and you will waste your money. For very, very,very mild hair loss saw palmetto may work, but against anything of real potency you would need finasteride or dutasteride.
PS:This text is NOT a medical advice, using all medicines aforementioned here is 100% at your own risk.
Wanna answer that one first because it’s funny, i’m not Turk but French aha ! But that made me laugh, first time i got this one !
Dermatologists here are a pain to find. Waited 8 months for this appointment, just to show a skin issue i had and some questions, and i got a “ Oh it’s nothing + i don’t approve those “.
That’s why i wanna ask my GP, since i don’t wanna wait another 8 months to get a derm. And i’m moving in another country in 2 months, so it’s not even an option to search one for now.
I understand it’s my decision to start taking fin / min or not, the more i read about those, the more i’m scared about the potential sides. I mean, if i’m sure it’s just temporary sides, reversible in 1 month or so, i’m fine, but i’ve heard about some horror stories aha.
It’s just i don’t see myself going bald at all, tried the buzz cut, not a huge fan, i’m pretty sure the total bald look would be even worse.
For HT, since i’m going to live in Asia for a bit, i checked some famous HT clinic in Thailand, but guess what ? Talked with them, and it’s mandatory for them to get some medications before / after the HT !
Even when reading some posts here, i feel like Minoxidil can be scary, that’s why i talked about seing a cardiologist beforehand aha
If you can barely find a dermatologist in 8 months, then you have to either take matter into your hands and enter a grey territory or keep it by the book and wait, meanwhile your hair can fall off. In the long term, the uncomfortable truth is that one has to take the matters into his/her own hand, like I did, though this is just what the situation is. Not that it is something I would recommend but one something I had to do myself and likely you would have to do too. You have to, once diagnosed with AGA, get the medications yourself, as stated again not that I would recommend but this is the truth. You cannot rely on dermatologists for 20-30 years, he/she will die, somebody else will replace him/her, another person will come and also replace him/her in the period. Once diagnosed by a proper derm, you have to take matters into your hands. I do NOT recommend this but this something that one has to do, a brave decision and your call. Some poeple, especially aggressive diffuse thinners make good recoveries, but the moment they stop the meds all the hair will begin making its way out of the scalp, you cannot wait several months for a derm appointment or even wait a month to get your paycheck so you can pay the fee for a private clinic. If you have lots of money to throw around, then you can go left-right to all clinics but if you relocate eg. like to Thaliand, then you have to begin the game again. Medications are known, mechanisms are known, side-effect risk profile is known and all it takes is commitment from that point onwards if one has no sides. For context, even the dutasteride loses nearly half of its efficiency within roughly 1 month^^^^^^^ while for finasteride it is a day or less (even worse for fin). You cannot wait a month or even a week to get your finasteride refilled. This is NOT to endorse getting the meds yourself but the raw, unfiltered truth.
^^^^^^^(6 weeks for 1/2 of dutasteride to remain on the system, though up to that period probably 5-10%, which is significant, of dutasteride is eliminated eg. in 2-3 weeks, though there is no clinical data and this is just an estimation.)
Hey ! Sorry, took some time to answer, was kinda busy yesterday !
Would you recomend starting finasteride then min, with some time between them, to see if i’m subject to sides from Fin first ?
I mean sides from fin are not permanent i guess, the only one scaring me because i’m not sure if it would 100 % be reversible is gynecomastia
I cannot recommend you take finasteride or oral minoxidil, that is anything that is medicine as I am not a medical professional. However, finasteride and minoxidil is almost always guaranteed to work better than just one of them alone. Finasteride’s sides yeah are not common. No, it is not common to start with dut first instead of fin, dut is yes more effective but dutasteride is also tasked (although it is still not potent in that regard) with inhibition of the Type I isoenzyme of steroid-5-alpha-reductase. Dutasteride typically is stronger, has less sides but it is reserved for more aggressive or advanced cases of AGA. Also, dutasteride seems to affect the neurosteroids less than finasteride as it a larger molecule and seems to bind to plasma proteins and does not hang out freely, as paradoxically as it sounds. There is rare (most who claim to have it are BSing imho but rare cases prob. exist) PFS syndrome, but no PDS syndrome despite over 1 million prescriptions in US alone.
I see, thanks again for your answers !
I’ll ask my GP and suggest her that i may start with 0.25 fin, to see how i react, and maybe if everything goes well, switching to the 0.5 in a few months
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